


Spectator

by servantofclio



Series: Zoe Ryder [12]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, her name isn't sara though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 11:17:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18135047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/servantofclio/pseuds/servantofclio
Summary: Ryder's fighting three fiends. THREE. Liam's concerned.





	Spectator

“She is going to die,” Liam mutters, staring down into the fighting pit. Three hulking mounds of rocky muscle bearing down on a couple of krogan and one human who looks really fucking small, even in her armor.

Below, Ryder shoots a burst of flame at one of the fiends and then bolts toward the other end of the arena, with the roaring beast barrelling after her.

Liam transfers his ire to the krogan standing next to him. “If she dies, again, this one’s on you, Drack.”

Drack chuckles, low and gravelly. “Don’t you have any confidence in her?”

It’s not about confidence, it’s about: “Three fiends, Drack.”

“She’s got two krogan on her side.”

“Two krogan who hate each other.” Neither of whom Liam’s willing to rely on to watch her back. He’d jump down into the pit himself to even the odds a little, except for the heavy, synthetic arm Drack has clamped to his shoulder. The two krogan are teaming up to beat on one of the fiends, at least, but that leaves the other two chasing after Ryder, who’s unslung the sniper rifle from her back and extended it to its full length, nearly her own height. She fires off two rounds and then sprints off with the fiends in hot pursuit.

“Heh, yeah,” Drack rumbles. “They’re going to be talking about this one for years.”

“So glad to provide your friends with entertainment, old man.”

Drack snorts. Down below, Ryder jumps and scrambles up to the top of a rock. One of the fiends lunges after her, and Liam winces as she goes flying, engaging her jump-jets to keep from slamming into the walls of the pit. Around them, the krogan bellow in approval. Liam spares a white-hot second to hate every single one of them, Drack included.

“She’s going to die,” he mutters again. Ryder’s scrambling around fast enough that it doesn’t look like she’s got any broken ribs, but given SAM’s involvement, you can never be sure.

Drack’s grip on Liam’s shoulder tightens. “But if she pulls this off, she’ll have a great story. And the krogan eating out of her hand.”

Liam glares, winces again as a fiend swipes at her, and then shouts in relief as one of the damn things finally goes down in a burning heap. “Fine,” he allows. “But you’re the one explaining this to Lexi.”

Drack laughs. “I’ll take that chance.”

Liam makes a face. Lexi does have a soft spot for the old krogan. What’s worse, he’s got a point. If Ryder gets out of this, she could have a lot easier time dealing with the krogan.

 _When_ , he corrects himself. _When_ she gets out of this.

Two fiends is better odds, at least, and rapidly turns into one once the krogan finish off the one they’ve been tangling with. Then Ryder’s able to keep her distance while the krogan bellow and pound on the last one, and it finally goes down with a crash. The noise is drowned out by the roaring and cheering of all the krogan as the crowd breaks up. The weight of Drack’s arm on Liam’s shoulder finally lets up, and Liam can make his way through the crowd, dodging arm-waving, laughing krogan, toward the entrance to the arena.

Ryder’s just coming out, looking tiny among the krogan. She smiles back at the ones who bellow approvingly at her, but she’s also holding herself stiffly, like she’s trying not to limp. Liam cuts over to her side, in easy supporting distance if she needs it. “Damn, Ryder,” he says.

She laughs, her eyes bright. “I know, right?” She bumps him with her shoulder and ends up leaning on him. Just a little.

Liam obligingly provides an arm around her shoulders. “You okay?”

“I’m good,” she says, a little too fast. “You know, mostly good. That was, uh, kind of a lot.”

“Uh-huh.” Bruised and sore and coming off the adrenaline high, no doubt.

“Good show!” bellows one of the krogan and chucks Ryder in the shoulder, knocking her harder into Liam. She laughs and returns the punch, but without Liam there she wouldn’t have stayed upright.

He gives in to himself then and dips down to kiss her, hard, in spite of combat sweat and a crowd of krogan milling around them. A few of the krogan hoot and cackle. Let them. Ryder grabs his other shoulder for balance and blinks up at him in surprise when he breaks the kiss.

“You’re good, all right,” he tells her. “Or more like amazing.”

She grins back. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”


End file.
